March of the Cybermen
by Tatsurou-san
Summary: Sequel to Deception x 2. A look at how things will change with Cyborg's return and the events that occured in the interim...as well as a dark new threat to appear on the horizon. CyJinx, with RobStar and BBRae for good measure.
1. Dear Diaries

1. Dear Diaries

Dearest Diary,

Oh, the news is most wonderful! My dear friend Cyborg has somehow returned from the dead! Perhaps he was not dead after all, but just missing for so long. Oh, I do not know what to do! I would make the traditional Tamaranean Pudding of Returning from the Dead (made for warriors who return late from battle their loved ones thought had claimed their lives) but I am missing several key ingredients!

Oh, but Cyborg has changed. He seems so much more...Cyborgy, if that is possible. His tech seems much more advanced. At first I was worried it might not be him, but it truely is! And how wonderful, he and friend Jinx are now the couple! Friend Cyborg was most confused, though, when I asked how they can be the item if I cannot purchase them in the RPGs. ...Friend Beast Boy tells me I have much to learn in the art of the joke.

Oh, but I must be going now! We must stock back up on the meat that Cyborg is so fond of, and I am to do the shopping with Boyfriend/Lover Robin!

Journal Entry 37942-6

Cyborg is back. He seems very much alive, and every kind of test e can devise confirms that it is indeed him. I'm a little confused as to where he's been the past couple of months, but those questions can be answered later.

It's a lot to take in, we thought he was gone. It's...wonderful to have him back, that's for sure. And his new tech! Where did he get it? He says he'll answer questions later, but for right now he just wants to be home for a time. I can't blame him. We have a lull in crime, so we can celebrate his return properly.

Report to be concluded upon return from the grocery store. If we're gonna welcome Cyborg back properly, we need to stock up on meat. I'm going to the store with 3 Star 3!

Dear Journal,

DUDE! Cyborg's back! Go Cyborg, you're alive, go Cyborg!

Man, so much has happened since he's been gone! But I've already written about all of that. Anyway, he's back, and I couldn't be happier. Raven seemed a little nervous earlier, but I kinda knew what she was worried about. Life's been rough on her, and since the light in her life is always balanced by darkness, I guess she figured that she'd have to lose to gain. But I'm not ever leaving her side, not now.

Speaking of...I think I'll ask Cyborg for help with that "special project" I've been working on since I came across that old rhyme in Raven's books. Should make things go faster, since he actually knows how to work the machinery.

Dear Diary,

Cyborg is back. It was almost more than I could believe, but my magic confirms it. It's his life force, and his soul. If anything, his life force is even stronger than before.

I admit to some mixed feelings. I'm happy that Cyborg is back, of course, but...when he went missing, our shared pain brought Beast Boy and I together. Now that he's back, will what we have...dissappear?

Beast Boy was just here. He just came in, didn't say anything, but wrapped me in his arms. What he said, I don't want to ever forget. So I'll write it here:

"Raven, I love you. Nothing will ever change that, and I will never leave your side. I promise. Tragedy may have brought us together, but what we discovered between us is REAL, and the cessation of that tragedy won't drive us apart. I will always love you."

He knew. He knew the worries that preyed on my mind, and he came to reassure me. Is it any wonder, when he knows me so well and is so sweet to me, that I love him so much that I will RISK loving? But it makes me feel even guiltier...knowing I am lying to him.

Would he still love me...if he knew I was destinef to bring about the end of the world?

Someday, I will have to tell him. It will be better sooner rather than later...but I couldn't bear it if he hated me. What do I do?

Hard copy memory file 3749-222:

Been back at Titans Tower a few days. Had quite a bit of a shock finding out my friends have all started bopping each other in my absence.

Okay, that was crude even for me. Let's try that again.

Robin and Star have taken to sharing her bedroom at night, and Beast Boy spends his nights with Raven in her room. I'm happy that all of them have found love with each other, and proud that I helped make it happen. Just wish I could have done without, you know, dying.

Also wish BB and Raven weren't so loud most nights. *SHUDDER* There are some things you don't want to hear from your little sister's room in the middle of the night. ...not that she's my real little sister, but that's how I've always seen her. I hope they're using some form of protection.

Jinx and I are trying to arrange a few visits between Towers. It's easier for me to visit her, but she wants to plan a few group dates, since with her over here we'll have three couples. She's talking about making Mammoth her second, so that he'll be in charge while she's visiting over here. I'm a little worried about that. Mammoth's a great guy, and a tough fighter...I just don't know if he has leadership potential.

Okay, BB just handed me some really strange blueprints of a room he'd like my help constructing. I recognize several mystic runes, and I can get my hands on Orihalcum, Mythril, and nth-metal, but why does he want it built like this? And why does he want it so heavily fortified? And what does he mean, it's for Raven?

THis name in the runes, though...I'm gonna have to look it up. I wonder who 'Scath' is? 


	2. The Quest, Birthmark

2. The Quest, Birthmark

-  
"Talking"  
*Thinking*  
-Cybertalk-  
-

Cyborg raced to the doorand opened it. "Hey, Jinx. Good to see you!" He pulled her into his embrace.

"Hey, tin man," she said laughing. "How have things been?"

"Well, Star's kinda down today, but other than that-"

"Wait! Why's Star feeling down? Shouldn't Robin be doing something about that?"

"That's why she's down. He's gone off on some sort of training quest to find the True Master."

Jinx blinked as she took this in. "Training quest? True Master? When did our life become an anime?"

Cyborg chuckled. "And you call Beast Boy an otaku."

She elbowed him in the gut. "Just because I know enough to keep up with the geeks doesn't make me one."

They got to Robin's room, and saw what Beast Boy and Starfire were up to. Cyborg got up in their faces. "I can't believe you broke into Robin's room when he wasn't here, played with his gear, and pretended to be him..." He waited a sufficient amount of time for them to get shame-faced, then finished. "...without me!"

Jinx smirked. "Hey, let me in on the action, too."

Cyborg needed a few uniform's worth of gear to get the look right, but Jinx fit into the uniform surprisingly well. "Friend Jinx," Star had asked, "how is it the uniform of Robin fits you so well? You are so close to the same size? Perchance might you be related?"

Jinx choked. "Me? Related to Mr. Bird-a-Rang up my butt? Don't make me gag!"

When Raven found them doing it in the garage, she was at first unwilling to join in...then Beast boy whispered something to her, and she got changed...although she was blushing. Jinx confrnted her about it.

"Okay, what did the grass stain say that got you going along? Spill, girl."

Raven turned bright red. "He said...the mask could be kinky..."

Jinx turned bright red. "I don't want to know."

When Raven came out to the main room that night, she was surprised by the party the others threw for her. She soon glared at Beast Boy. "You told them it was my birthday?" She had told him in confidence, when he said it was a boyfriend's duty to get the girlfriend a birthday present.

Beast Boy shook his head. "I didn't tell them anything! They caught me sneaking the present inside! Then...things kind of just snowballed."

She sighed. "And you had to go along?"

"Go easy on him, Raven," Jinx said, coming up to her. "He meant well."

She sighed, trying to come to grips with this. She didn't WANT to celebrate her birthday. If they knew what it meant, they wouldn't want to either. Then the alarm went off. "We'll talk later," she said to Beast Boy. He gulped.

-Scanning... ... temporal stasis detected. Engaging chronium flux field.-

Cyborg shifted suddenly as his body became active. He looked around. He remembered Raven doing something just before the gear Slade sent rolling was about to crush Robin.

Robin! Slade!

Cyborg saw that Robin and Slade were nowhere to be seen, but he could see the trail left by Raven's magic. He hadn't told her yet that his new sensors could track that.

Seeing Beast Boy unmoving, he went over to him. He placed his hand on his shoulder.

-Error: chronium flux field drains large amounts of power, and ambient energy unavailable in quantumn stasis. Energy only available to maintain one field.-

*Then transfer the field to Beast Boy...as well as the jet pack. He'll need to get to Raven in a hurry, and he has to go a ways.*

-... ... Command ackknowledged.-

Beast Boy opened his eyes with an unfamiliar weight on his back. He was also flying through the air at high speeds. He realized Cyborg's jet pack equipment were strapped to his back, and he was going at high speeds through the air. An HUD popped up in front of him.

"Beast Boy...something has happened, and Raven needs you. The pack will take you there, as well as keep you unfrozen. Time seems to have stopped, so keep the pack on until it starts again."

Beast Boy nodded at the message Cyborg had left him. Then he saw what was happening below him as the pack shifed to dive. Slade had hold of Raven, most of her clothes were gone...and she was in pain. His mind jumped to a conclusion - the wrong one, but a good one.

"Get your hands off of her!" he shouted, charging full tilt into Slade. Shifting into a gorrilla, he decked Slade right off the pinnacle. He seemed to vanish, and time restarted.

Beast Boy saw Raven starting to fall, and he grabbed her. "Raven, it's me! I'm here!" He held her gently, and saw the markings on her arms.

"Beast Boy..." she whispered.

He pulled her close as the pack disengaged and returned to Cyborg. "It's okay, Raven. It won't happen. We won't let it. I won't let it."

She pulled back, staring at him. "You...knew?" He nodded. "How long?"

"Remember when you first started to let me read your books?" She nodded. "I found the prophecy, and looked up what I could find on Scath. The descriptions I found of Trigon...were pretty detailed."

She looked down. He had seen the image of her father Rage had taken in her mindscape. "Beast Boy...I..."

"And it doesn't change how I feel about you in the slightest."

She stared at him disbelievingly. "But...I was born to destroy this world!"

"Do you want to?"

"NO! How can you ask-" She stopped. She flushed. "...Beast Boy..."

He smiled at her. "Besides...even if you are destined to destroy the world...it wouldn't be worth living in to me without you in it." He kissed her. "Don't worry. I have a plan."

She found it in her to chuckle. "Now I'm worried."

Back at the tower, they finished celebrating Raven's birthday...and Beast Boy shwoed her the room he'd had Cyborg prepare.

"When the day comes, we'll bring you in here...and your father won't be able to reach you."

"He won't give up."

Beast Boy brought out a bag. Opening it up, he showed her the contents. "He can try."

"Beast Boy...is that..."

"Everyone has enemies, Raven. If you know who to ask, you'd be amazed what you can get your hands on." He smiled. "Let him come. Let him try to get to you. He'll have to get through me."

"All of us," Robin said from behind him.

Raven and Beast boy turned. The whole team was assembled. Raven looked at Beast Boy. "You told them?"

Cyborg interrupted. "I helped him build the room. YOu think I'd trust him with the power tools?" He waved his hand disarmingly. "He only told me it was for you...bu the runes are shaped to ward against the power of Scath...and I was able to research the name. We've all got our preperations under way. If your old man wants you...he'll have to get through all of us."

"And us, too," Jinx said. "Titans East will be here when you need us for this battle."

Raven stared around at the faces of her friends, her family. "But...he'll kill you all! He can't be stopped."

Beast Boy pulled her into his arms. "We risk our lives every day when we go to fight bad guys...for the peace of the world. This time, we'll do it for friendship...for family...for love. If that's not worth dying for, what is?"

Raven clung to Beast Boy, unable to say anything. 


	3. Barbarism

3. Barbarism

-  
"Talking"  
*THinking*  
-Computer talking-  
-

Jinx was hanging out with Cyborg in the main room of Jump City Tower. Everyone was around, just doing their own thing.

All of a sudden, a lightning bolt struck out of nowhere, and Jinx vanished. CYborg was immediately there. "What the hell happened?" he demanded of no one in particular.

-Temporal disturbance detected. Magical quantum shift likeliest explanation.-

*Where to?* Cyborg demanded of his computer as everyone tried to investigate. *When?*

-Analyzing...spatial coordinates constant. Temporal coordinates...estimated 5000 year shift backwards.-

*...can I follow?*

-...confirmed. Chronium phase sheilding capable of chronometric jump following tachyon trail. Warning: exposed organic matter cannot survive this units transfer process.-

*Translation?*

-Host unit can follow safely...but subject Jinx would not survive same transfer process back.-

The Titans were surprised when Cyborg suddenly spoke. "Do it."

He vanished in a flash of light.

When Cyborg arrived, fully coated in his armor, he saw a battle going on between primitive humans and some sort of green creatures. *Analysis of scenario.*

-Processing...chronium shift succesful. Mystic temporal effects present. All actions historically acounted for, barring ancestral deviations.-

*Explain.*

-Kill no humans. All else will be accounted for by temporal resilience factors due to historical inflexibility principle.-

*Boo-yah.* As the green creatures approached him, he pulled out his beam sword.

-Alert: ambient energy levels exceptionally high. Overdrive available and recommended.-

"Let's do this!" Cyborg shouted. The energy blade blazed brilliantly, and he charged.

One vicious and unnecisarrily graphic slaughter of freaky monsters later...

Cyborg turned as the leader of the tribe approached him. "Yo!" he said, shaking himself off to dislodge the green gunk.

"You fight well, warrior," the leader said from beneath the helm.

-Alert: speaker is female.-

Cyborg nodded. "I'm looking for a friend of mine. Can you help me?"

She removed her helm. "I am Sarrasim, leader of this tribe. For your aid with these monsters, I will help you as much as I can."

As they approached the walled town, Cyborg's computer gave him some interesting information, which he relayed to Sarrasim. "Those creatures I fought...they weren't actually alive."

"How do you mean?" she asked, confused.

"They were magical constructs." Cyborg noticed Crawl flinch when he said this, but ignored it. "They're made from magic to perform a specific purpose. Taking down the endless waves of them does you no good. You gotta find the mage who's making them and take them down."

"We are aware of this," Sarrasim said. "It is fortunate that during our last battle, Craw was able to capture the witch responsible for their creation. We thought to get information as to how to better destroy them from her, but the creatures obviously intend to rescue their mistress. We shall simply have to hope that her death will end her spell."

"Well that could work but-" Cyborg froze as the gate opened. THere, in the center of town, Jinx was chained to two posts, bleeding from several bruises and wounds, with a bad bump to her head. He ran forward and cut her chains, catching ehr as she fell.

"Cyborg, what are you doing?" Sarrasim demanded. "That is the witch responsible-"

Cyborg responded with a word that made everyone in town gasp, and even caused Sarrasim to instinctively cover her ears. "Jinx isn't even 16 yet. Yes, she's got strong magic, but all she can do with it is make things happen. She can't do constructs: I should know, since I'm the one she comes to for comfort every time they fail. That stuff out there wasn't her doing!"

"Cyborg...I want to believe you," Sarrasim began. "But I will need more proof than that."

"YOu want proof? Fine. Magic comes in colors. THose things were green, but Jinx' magic - no matter what she's doing - is pink! If they were ehrs, they'd be pink, too!"

There was muttering. Sarrasim held up her hand. "Very well. I do not wish to be harsh. The two of you will remain as guests and will not be mistreated. You have...two weeks in which to prove her innocence by finding the true culprit."

Cyborg nodded. "I'll get started after seeing to her injuries, once she wakes up." He turned to Crawl. "You're the one who injured her?"

Crawl stiftened. "It was a valiant battle, and-" he fell silent as Cyborg seized him by the throat.

"If she doesn't wake up...or if she's suffered irreperable harm...you answer to me!" Cyborg dropped Crawl, and carried Jinx into an empty house.

Several hours later, Jinx stirred. "Nnngghh..."

"Jinx! You okay?" Cyborg took her small hand in his.

She shook her head gently. "What hit me?"

"An idiot," Cyborg said fiercely. At Jinx look, he smiled. "A live idiot, for the moment."

Jinx sat up. "Where...are we?"

"Jump City...circa 3000 B.C."

"...trot that by me again?"

"We're in Jump City, 5000 years in the past. Also, there seems to be a sort of war going on against some sort of magical constructs."

Jinx nodded. "A witch up the mountain is making them. I tracked her magic to her. She's also the one who brought me here. When I asked her, she said she only did as her Master commanded her. Then something hit me in the back of the head."

Cyborg nodded. "Someone's commanding the witch to make them. We take out the witch or her master, war's over."

"So who is the master, then?" Sarrasim asked from behind him.

Cyborg turned. "Don't know...yet. But whoever it is wants something, and doesn't have it yet. I'm gonna head up the mountain, find the witch. I'll get some answers."

As he turned to go, Jinx grabbed him and pulled him into a quick kiss. "Good luck," she said simply. He nodded. As he left, he heard Jinx say to Sarrasim, "He's mine, you know. I saw how you were looking at him..."

Cyborg chuckled. Girls. He'd never understand them.

At the mountain cave, he encountered the witch. "So you're the one making the creatures," he said simply. "Don't try to deny it. I can detect the connection between you and them. Your magic is easily tracable."

"I do only as my Master commands," the witch said.

"You mean Crawl? The only way he would have snatched Jinx from here and not you is if he knew you were here anyway, and wanted you to keep doing this. He was going to use Jinx as a scapegoat. If Jinx dies and the creatures stop coming, it shows he caught the right witch."

"You are too clever by half, outworlder." Crawl came up behind him.

Cyborg grinned. "So you admit it, then?"

"It does not matter if I do. No one will hear it from you."

Cyborg grinned. "But they're hearing it from you." His cybernetic eye glowed, and an image was projected in front of him. It showed Sarrasim and the other tribesmen staring at them through something Jinx was holding. Jinx was smirking. "Remote projection," Cyborg said. "They just heard the entire conversation. And I'd wager-"

He was cut off by a sudden aunslaught of the creatures.

Back at the village, he came to. "That guy just don't play fair," he said grumbling.

Jinx looked at him. "Sarrasim and her people are prepared to fight him. Are we gonna stay and help, or head home?"

He shook his head. "We don't have a way home. I can get back no problem, but my method of transport would kill you."

Jinx chuckled. "Geez, you don't know anything about magic, do you?" She held up her hand and crafted a pink butterfly out of magic. It vanished. "And...now."

A green portal opened. A black claw extended. "That's Raven reaching back for us, now that she caught my signal. We going, or staying?"

Cyborg looked around. Sarrasim and her people would handle it, or not. That was history. It wasn't their place to interfere. "Let's go." They grabbed hold of the claw, and were pulled back to their own time.

"Just one thing I don't understand," Cyborg said as they passed through the portal. "The witch brought you back. Why?"

Jinx chuckled. "She was aiming for you. She missed." 


	4. The End of The End

4. The End of The End

Raven was safely ensconed in the room prepared for her. Beast Boy, Cyborg, Robin and Starfire were outside, waiting for Slade and his army.

As he approached, he stared at the Titans. "You know this is impossible for you to win. Just let me through, and you will live. I don't have to kill you."

Robin responded for everyone. "No give, no merc, no quarter. Titans! GO!"

Cyborg attacked with his sonic cannon and energy blade. Starfire flew about, attacking with her starbolts and the occasional piece of debris. Robin threw freeze disks and attacked with his bo staff. Beast Boy rampaged as the Beast.

In the safe room, Raven meditated...clutching the chicken. It was the first gift Beast Boy had ever given her, and she clung to it like a lifeline, a promise he would survive and return to her. In her hand was the lucky penny, and she wished and prayed with all her heart that luck would smile on them this day. In front of her was a clock.

3:27.18

Slowly, bit by bit, the Titans found themselves pushed back, outnumbered. The flame creatures just kept coming. Finally, they were surrounded, as Robin began to weary. Starfire came to his aid, also low on energy.

"GIve up, Titans. You can not win," Slade said, glaring down at them.

Cyborg smirked. "Phase two," he said into his communicator.

2:40.25

Waves of pink light smashed into the flame creatures, dispersing them. Jinx and the rest of Titans East leapt down from the roof of the Tower, as the other Titans withdrew to reenergize.

"It's called backup," Jinx said to Slade. "Ever heard of it?"

Snarling in fury, Slade directed the flame creatures to assault, and charged at Jinx. Mammoth back handed him away.

"You may be indestructible," Mammoth said, grinning, "but enough force still sends you flying. And I've got nothing but force."

The battle began in earnest. Mas and Menos were equipped with swords designed by Raven and Cyborg. They cut through the flame creatures easily dispersing them on impact. Speedy had brought a supply of nth-metal arrows. Aqualad easily exstinguished the flame creatures with his water waves. Jinx' hex waves mowed through the flame creatures easily.

1:36.15

Eventually, though, the backup team began to tire. It wasn't easy to fight continuously for over an hour straight at full strength. They clearly needed a breather.

Slade snarled at them. "You are beaten. Give it up already!"

Jinx simply smirked. She pulled out a Hive communicator. "Phase Three," she said into it.

The Titans East jumped back. Seemore, Kid Wykkid, and Billy Numerous leaped out of nowhere, similarly armed. Slade howled his frustration as they began to attack and slaughter the respawning flame creatures.

0:47.29

The former Hive students, however, weren't as tough as the Titans (obvious, since the Titans always beat them) and exhausted quicker.

Slade came down hard on them, easily knocking them aside. "Why join with your enemies to fight me?" he asked Seemore, anger seething around him.

Seemore smirked. "Jinx is still our friend. That hasn't changed. She said this is the end of the world, so we decided to prevent it." He sent a beam of light into the air from his eye. "FINAL PHASE!" he shouted.

The Titans suddenly returned to the battle field, refreshed and ready to fight full force.

Slade roared in fury, and charged in full force. THe Titans fought hard, mowing the flame creatures down and keeping Slade back.

0:12.09

Jinx noticed something about the flame creatures and Slade. Getting near to Cyborg, she spoke. "TIn man, these things are all draawn mystically through Slade. He's the medium of transfer. If we can find a way to block his magic-"

"Got it, Jinx. When I give the signal...hit ME with everything you got."

She stared at him, then nodded.

0:06.17

As the battle started to look bad, Cyborg held his sonic cannon up and it shifted. He shouted, "NOW, JINX!"

Jinx gathered all her magic power into one blast and hurled it at Cyborg. He staggered back...and absorbed it. The sonic cannon expanded, a pink sphere contained in what looked like a detonation device.

Slade looked at him. "Planning to die again, Cyborg?"

Cyborg grinned. "Hardly." The pink light shifted, and the device collapsed inward.

A wave of pink light expanded outward, erasing the flame creatures and shorting out Slade's magic. "WHAT?" Slade shouted.

0:03.24

Cyborg charged forward, extending his energy blade. Before Slade could react, Cyborg had swung the blade like lightning, seperating Slade's arms and legs from his body. Mammoth grabbed the right leg, Mas and Menos the left, Aqualad the right arm, Speedy the left. THey pulled the limbs away from the unbleeding body.

0:01.00

Slade glowered up at Cyborg. "You are only delaying the inevitable."

"Tell me something Slade," Cyborg said amicably. "Trigon will come through when Raven becomes the portal during the planetary alignment that occurs during her sixteenth year...correct?"

"You already know that."

"Trigon's invested a lot in this plan, hasn't he? If it were to fail...the consequences for him could be extremely serious, couldn't they? Could he try again?"

"He won't need to. As I said, you are only delaying the inevitable."

"True," Cyborg said, glancing at his arm. "But then, that was our plan the entire time." He showed Slade the display on his arm.

0:00.03

"Delay," Cyborg said grinning.

0:00.02

Slade stared, understanding dawning in his mind.

0:00.01

Slade screamed his fury and frustration.

0:00.00

The planetary alignment ended. The eclipse passed, as light returned to the world. The markings dissappeared from Raven's body, and she smiled.

Slade - all of him - vanished in unholy fire as an unearthly roar of rage and frustration filled the air before slowly fading away.

Jinx threw her arms around Cyborg, kissing him soundly. "We did it."

Cyborg grinned. "Yep," he said simply. "We did." He truned to watch as Beast Boy ran back into the tower to check on Raven. Robin and Starfire were leaning on each other. The Hive students had vanished with the start of the final phase, as expected. Cyborg gazed out solemly at the light of the new day. 


	5. For Real This Time

5. For Real This Time

Titans East flew in on their modified T-ship. Mas & Menos shareed a modified pod that could tap into their shared powers when seperated from the rest of the ship. Jinx had the cockpit, with Aqualad and Speedy in the two side pods, and Mammoth balancing out the back. Each pod was designed to take advantage of their abilities and aptitudes.

As the Tower came into sight, Jinx sighed. "There it is: our temporary home for a time."

Mas and Menos pipped up with something the others didn't understand.

Cyborg came in on the communicator. "Titans East, come in."

"Hey Cyborg," Aqualad spoke up.

"Hey, tin man!" Jinx said happily. "What's up?"

"Hey, Jinx. Can't talk long. I'm transmitting a list of villains you should keep an eye out for. When word gets out the Titans are out of town, someone may try to pull something."

"Gosh, I hope so!" Mammoth spoke up. "THings have been SO slow back in Steel City. Working out just ain't the same as busting bad guys."

"Thanks for looking after the city while we're off fighting the Brotherhood of Evil," Cyborg said.

"No prob, tin man."

"Now make sure-"

"I know, I know," Jinx said rolling her eyes. "Activate the security lockdown every night, buff the T-car counterclockwise, and don't eat your turkey leg from the fridge, it's for turkey day. Did I miss anything?"

Cyborg smiled. "You know me so well, Jinx. With you there, what have I got to worry about? Oh! Star wants to make sure you remember to feed and cuddle Silkie. According to her, the little guy responds best to a woman's touch, so she'd like you to handle that part, Jinx."

Jinx smirked. "The little cutie? I'd be happy to. YOu let Star know he's in good hands. Jinx out."

In the Tower, they began to explore. Jinx and Mammoth had seen it all before, as had Aqualad, but Speedy got a bit jealous. "They've even got flat panel computer displays. How come we don't have flat panel computer displays?"

Before Jinx could answer, Control Freak made his appearance. "Greetings Titans! YOur number o-OOF!"

Mammoth did not react well to being surprised. WIth one punch, he sent Control Freak bouncing across the room.

"Ow!" he said when he came to a halt. "That hurt! You're not supposed to hit me!" THen he saw them. "Wait, who are you guys? You're not the Titans!"

Jinx smirked. "We're the Titans East!"

Introductions were in order.

"Aqualad!"

"Speedy!"

"Mammoth!"

"Mas..."

"& Menos!"

"And Jinx!"

Control Freak stared at them. "Yeah...never heard of you guys."

"Now that's just rude, Control Freak," Mammoth spoke up. "We hung out not two weeks after the fall of Hive Academy. ...and weren't you a washout under the original Headmistress?"

Control Freak made several angry, incoherent noises.

"Oh yeah!" Jinx said, smacking her palm with her fist. "The Angry Titan Nerd! I watch your channel!"

"R-really?" Control Freak was stunned. A cute girl like Jinx watched his channel?

Jinx laughed. "Yeah! You're always good for a laugh!"

"I don't do comedy!" He leapt backward. "I came here to enact the Ultimate Titan Challenge! And since you seem to be this way about it, and the REAL Titans aren't here, I'll just have to settle for you!" He whipped out his weapon pack. "I've brought the ultimate weapons, made specifically for the real Titans. You Titan Wannabes don't stand a chance! Victory will be mine."

He fired off the torpedos. Mammoth evaded the blasts. He got caught in the sphere. He punched it, trying to break out.

"Your efforts are futile! THis atomic resistor capsule was built to defeat Starfire."

"Really? That strong, huh?" Mammoth started running. The sphere rolled towards COntrol Freak.

"No fair!" he yelled, running away.

His face offs with Speedy and Mas & Menos went as expected, and Jinx and Aqualad cornered him back in the kitchen. While he was taking pop shots at Aqualad, Jinx shorted out his pack with a few hex bolts.

He jumped away. "You lot don't fight fair! This would all have worked on the REAL Titans, but your powers are just...LAME! I don't wanna fight you anymore."

The Titans East worked together to clean up the didn't bother searching for Control Freak. If he tried anything, everyone would know. THat's just how he worked. Besides, he'd post something about it on his channel. In the mean time, she fed Silkie.

"Who zaps out in the middle of a fight?" Speedy asked, confused.

"A sore loser," Mammoth said from the computer. Jinx had him watching Control Freak's channel for activity. "He's more of a super fan than a super villain. DOn't worry so much."

Cyborg opened communications. "The tower sensor detected weapons fire. Everything okay?"

Mammoth shrugged. "Just some pest control problems. A rat ate your turkey leg."

"What? Aw, man! But what kinda rat requires weapons fire?"

"The kind that thinks it's a bad guy. DOn't worry about it, tin man," Jinx said, rolling her eyes. "YOu asked us to watch the citry for you. You gonna jump every time the scanners send you the slightest blip?"

"It's just-" There was an explosion in the background. "Uh oh. I gotta go."

Jinx shrugged as she babbied Silkie. "See? Cyborg just worries too much."

The alarm went off.

Control Freak watched as the Titans East handled their own unique hurdles. Jinx magic stairs were an intruiging way of dealing with the building problem. Mammoth seemed to think with his muscles with every problem that came his way, though, so it was lucky that his issue was a building collapsing. He just got in position where the support had given way and held the whole thing up until everyone was out, then did a controlled drop so no one would get hurt.

With advice from his chat room buddies, Control Freak planned his New Ultimate Titans Challenge!

With the beginning of the challenge, Control Freak announced everyone's hurdles, but only to the audience and each Titan. For Mammoth, a giant chess board was crafted near the nuclear power plant. He had five minutes to beat a fiendish level computer, or the chess board would trigger a meltdown of the reactor, irradiating the entire city. He had to take down the enemy king...by the rules of the game!

Mammoth smirked. "Bring it on!" he said, cracking his knuckles.

For Jinx, a schoolbus was driving its bus load of children home from school. It would take the freeway, and once it went above 50, the bomb would be armed. If it dropped below fifty, the bomb would detonate.

Jinx sniffed at hearing this. "You stole that from speed. Can't get anyone off the bus without setting off the bomb either, right?"

"That's right!" Control Freak said. "YOu're task is to get on the bus in the middle of the freeway, get control of it, and disarm the bomb..." Nth Metal cuffs suddenly cocooned Jinx' hands and lower arms. "Without the use of your magic hand motions! Let's see how well you do!"

Jinx cursed. "You just love to make things difficult, don't you?" She saw a car coming up with a bunch of young guys, and whistled. It stopped. "Gimme a lift, boys?" she said flirtatiously, and winked.

Once they let her in, her eyes glowed. "Drive as fast as you can. There's a school bus we need to catch."

They drove.

When they caught up to the school bus, she hopped up onto the engine housing of the car, in front of the windshield, then leaped, sliding elegantly through an oped window of the bus without touching the sides. Running up to the front, she explained the situation. The driver nodded, and kept the pedal to the metal. She turned to the kids.

"We're filming a movie, boys and girls, and I need volunteers. I'm not looking for the photogenic, though. I'm looking for experts, to make this realistic. Who here is the biggest expert when it comes to anything dangerous? And who's the biggest nerd?" Two kids were pushed forward. They both looked like they were beat up regularly, and were probably members of every nerdy club on campus. They were about 10, and from how they acted around her, they had just started to notice girls.

"Tell you what, you two. You're my new costars. You both know the movie Speed?" They nodded. "Well, we're doing a similar scenario here. Somewhere, a BOMB has been strapped to the bus, and I need help finding it so I can disarm it. Now, how should I go about doing that? Manage it for me quickly, and you both earn a kiss!"

The kids rushed to work. They examined the bus, the vicinity, even some old comic books. Popping open the lower emergency door, one of the kids peeked under the bus. "It's just under the front part of the bus, miss, between the front wheels!"

The other kid paced out the exact location for Jinx. "Right here, miss."

Jinx nodded, she had explained the situation - and her plan - to the boys in the car, and they had made sure no other vehicles were behind the bus in three lanes for at least 5 miles back. "Okay," she yelled to the students. "We're gonna make this real, so everyone to the front of the bus!" Everyone ran to the front of the bus, piling as far forward as they could while staying out of the paced out area. Taking a deep breath, she tolf the driver, "GUN IT!" As he pushed the bus as fast as it would go, she spun, cutting the section with the bomb completely free with hexbolts from ehr feet.

The bomb wasn't as well built as Control Freak had thought. Cutting it free had caused a few seconds delay in the explosion, enough time for the bus to get completely clear.

As the bus slowed to a halt, Jinx found the two kids who had helped her. "Well done, you two." She gave them eacha quick kiss on the cheek.

Once the Titans reunited, they talked about what had happened. Most of the Titans were shocked at Mammoth's success.

"13 move checkmate? Are you kidding me?" Speedy demanded.

"What?" Jinx said, laughing. "You expect anything less from the Hive Academy chess champion?"

They all stared at Mammoth. He shrugged. "I like chess."

Control Freak was carted away when he stupidly made himself too readily available for capture.

Jinx reassured Cyborg in his call that there was no...OFFICIAL need to hurry his return. They had everything under control. 


	6. Things Change Drastically

6. Things Change Drastically

The Titans had just gotten back from Tokyo, and were making their way down the street, seeing how things had changed in their absence. Robin and Starfire were arm in arm, as could be expected. THey had taken a detour for a few hours on the way back to the Jet when they were ready to leave Tokyo, and both had had bigger smiles than usual plastered on their faces when they got back. Beast Boy had looked at them, sniffed the air, grinned, and said nothing.

Jinx had met them upon their arrival, glomming onto Cyborg. They had their arms wrapped around each other, and were leaning into each other with that love struck look so common on their faces these days. For being the only Titan pair that was still being 'responsible', they were the most cloying to watch.

Beast Boy and Raven were wrapped up in each other in their own way. Beast Boy was in the form of a cat, cuddled against Raven's chest purring. Raven occasionally stroked his head. Glancing over, Raven asked a question that had been on her mind since the Brotherhood incidents. "Cyborg...you have all these advanced technologies in your system...yet for the most part you limit yourself to the level you had before your repairs in combat. Why?"

Cyborg thought for a bit. "Well, a lot of reasons. One, the advanced tech is dangerous, and most of it is lethal. I don't know how far I can take it without killing someone. For another, it's way too powerful. If I relyed on it too much, eventually I'd be the threat people had to deal with. But mostly, it's because most of it falls under the levels of alien tech that Earth isn't considered ready for. Sure, there's commerce of sorts between Earth and alien races, but can you picture what would happen if some terrorist group - or worse, a government - got a hold of this tech?"

Raven nodded. "I see what you mean. You've got a lot more to deal with than most of us, then."

"Yeah, I guess you could say-" He froze. His sensors had gone off. "Watch out!" he shouted, throwing his hands forward. An energy barrier appeared, deflecting a red sonic blast.

"Well, Cyborg," a chilling voice said. "It seems you've learned some new tricks." Several purple robed individuals appeared, surrounding them. All wore the mark of the Hive.

Jinx flinched back against Cyborg. She recognized the voice that haunted her worst nightmare's. "Blood!" she whimpered.

Cyborg snarled. "Show yourself, Blood! Do you really think you can hide behind an army of cheap imitations like last time? How'd you survive my blast, anyway?"

"Oh, that's the thing Cyborg...I didn't. Your last attack that day was quite lethal. It was a good thing," the front most figure discarded the robe, revealing a cybernetically upgraded Brother Blood, "I had the foresight to prepare a backup."

Another figure removed its robe...revealing another Blood! "Or two."

Several other Bloods discarded their robes. "Or more!"

Almost all the robed figures were revealed to be cybernetic Bloods. Cyborg gaped. "Son of a monkey nugget, you cloned yourself!"

"Indeed. Trident's technology was most useful once I'd recovered and analyzed it in my underwater base. Isn't mass production a wonderful thing?" The speaking Blood grinned.

"And don't think I'll be so easy to defeat as he was," another spoke. "I have always been excellent at manipulating many bodies, as you well know." The eyes all began to glow red.

Another figure dropped down. It was Gizmo...but the cybernetics had been applied to him, fusing him with his tech. "Time to teach you grub sniffers a lesson," he said, his eyes glowing red.

"The Headmaster is back in town," one of the Bloods said.

"Resistance IS futile," said another.

"It is inevitable, Mr. Stone," said a third.

"You and all your friends will soon be...upgraded," said the one in the lead.

They leveled their weapons. Cyborg's eye went wide. "Raven get us out of here!" he shouted.

Raven started to chant her mantra.

There was a flash of magic just as all the Bloods fired their weapons. When the light cleared, there was no trace of the Titans. 


End file.
